Re-imagining a Theology of Fishing

by vince beresford

Recently I visited my friend Tim in Northern California.  Tim is obsessed with bass fishing.  He subscribes to bass magazine, he watching bass fishing on TV, he can tell me what bass like to eat, where they like to swim, what smells and colors attracts them, he reads books about them and has a sweet high tech bass boat.  As he showed me his enormous tackle box filled with hundreds of trinkets and gizmos, I thought to myself “man, this guy needs serious help.”  However, as he was talking I kept thinking about Jesus’ statement about making us “fishers of men.”  The reality is that Tim has wholeheartedly committed himself to become the best fisherman he could possibly be.  Which in turn, confronted me with the question “what kind of fisherman do we have in the church today??”  The answer is not encouraging.

It is time for the Christian Church in the United States to take a deep theological reflection into how we make disciples?  We the Church, seem to be suffering from severe mission amnesia.  We have forgotten why we exist.  While most churches boast a mission statement that usually includes “making disciples” and “winning the lost” the bottom line is that they are not doing it.  If most churches were a business, and their goal was to make a profit (i.e. disciples), they would be on a crash course with bankruptcy.  Dallas Willard, is his book The Divine Conspiracy, describes it this way: “Non-discipleship is the elephant in the church.”    

Research clearly indicates that our current methods and approaches of “catching fish” (i.e. making disciples) are clearly ineffective and unfruitful.  The Church in the USA has become more concerned, committed and focused on “how” we fish rather than “catching” fish.  The church has replaced the “scorecard” of ministry from making disciples, to the protection of an antiquated and ineffective methodology.  THE METHODS WE CURRENTLY USE ARE NOT WORKING!!!  Researchers like Barna and Gallup have been trying to tell us for years that teenagers are among the most spiritually interested individuals in the nation. However, sensitivity to faith matters has not resulted in an increase in Christian conversions.  More than any other time in history U.S. young adults seem the most open to exploring faiths other than Christianity.  The majority of churches in the United States are not attracting, impacting, or keeping the younger generations raised outside of the church in the way the generation before them did.

It is time to re-imagine what making disciples looks like.  The Church in the USA has adopted a decreasingly ineffective extra biblical model for making disciples that is in strong contrast to the examples of Jesus.  There are no examples in the New Testament of a single methodology that Jesus used on all people.  However, the Church in the US has widely embraced the “point of sale” evangelism approach as the entry point to becoming a Christian disciple.  For example Jesus never lead anyone in an instantaneous “sinner’s prayer” to signify that from this point on this person was “born again.”  Jesus’ ministry was rarely about where someone would end up when they die.  Jesus never ask the question “do you know where you would go if you would die tonight?”  Jesus spoke primarily in terms of lifestyle and relationship and invited people into a relationship with Him.  I propose that it is because we have made entry-level discipleship (i.e. “evangelism”) almost exclusively about where someone will spend eternity that is at the heart of our problem.

We, the Church, have been commissioned to this world to be brokers of hope.  What are we saying about hope when our main goal is just to tolerate this world until we die? Have we replaced the message of hope with a message of escape?  Isn’t Heaven is simply the inheritance and ratification of people who already in relationship with God here.  When Jesus’ disciples ask him how to pray, he said pray like this; thy Kingdom come, thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Maybe Jesus is trying to help us understand that the goal of discipleship is to bring heaven to earth, rather than get people to heaven.  Jesus wants to be in a relationship with us because he loves us and we love him.  Not because we need to use him to get to heaven.  The cross represents much more than just salvation.  The message of the Gospel is much more than a ticket to heaven.  I wonder how many of our students view Jesus primarily as a fire insurance plan, or ticket into heaven, with mansions, streets of gold and no more pain and tears?  Hope is not found in heaven, it is in Jesus Christ.  Maybe this is why Jesus never tried to manipulate or scare someone into a relationship with him.  Is this why Christian’s seem to ignore environmental concerns?  Have we adopted a theology of “its all going to burn up anyway?”  While this world is inherently evil, it is still Christ who has given “authority over all things.”  It is only with His authority and power that we can see heaven come to earth and truly believe and contribute that the “Kingdom of God is at hand.” 

Our message and our methods of making disciples need to change.

Have we forgotten the main point is really about angler replication?

Successful fishermen go fishing when the fish are hungry.  They meet fish on their terms, go to where the fish are, and base their approaches and attempts by what has the most success.  The goal of “fishing” (i.e. Christian discipleship) is to meet people see where they (honestly) are and take their next steps towards a relationship with Christ.  We have become so obsessed with the “point of sale” evangelism approach that we are oblivious that the majority of people in our churches did not have an instantaneous conversion experience.  For most, conversion is/has been a process.

The Traditional Approach The dark circle represents THE line that everyone must cross in order to enter into Christian discipleship.  We define that line for people when they pray the “sinners prayer” they instantaneously become “born again” and can have the “assurance of salvation.”  Then we tell people that their name is written in the “Lamb’s Book of Life” and they no longer have to be afraid of going to hell.     

The Organic Approach The dotted line represents the point in which a person becomes “born again.”  The main focal point in the theology is the direction of the arrows, not the line.  Discipleship then becomes about helping point everyone in their journey towards their relationship with Christ.  The difference is that each person’s ”conversion” experience is a process that cannot be systematized.  Each persons journey is ergonomically specific to them.  The goal of this theology of discipleship is to focus solely of the direction of all peoples arrows regardless of where they are in their journey and do what ever we are able to move everyone into full live development in Christ.  Not just save them from hell.

As I write this, I must admit to you that I am part of the problem.  I am one of “those” people who have the gift of evangelism.  I myself had an instantaneous conversion experience June 24, 1984 and was instantly delivered from drugs, alcohol, smoking and received an immediate calling into professional ministry.  The Church has historically placed people like me on stage to motivate (through guilt) to be evangelical.  I have dozens of airplane and bus stories when the Lord chose to use me for fruitful evangelism.  However, the reality is that most people are not like me.  In fact regardless of where I am in the country, most people cannot testify of the instant point and time of there conversion.  For most people discipleship is/was/ and has been a process.  Maybe that is why Jesus rarely made his ministry about the choice between heaven and hell.  Maybe that is why none of the Gospel writers saw it important enough to record the when any of Jesus’ twelve disciples where born again. 

The bottom line is this, if the church does not change – the Church in the USA will not exist in the future.

If theology is the study of the nature of God and religious truth and the rational inquiry into religious questions, I would like to propose three questions to assist us in re-imagining our theology of “fishing” (i.e. mission):

1) Is the Church a living organism made up entirely by human beings, or is it a central meeting place?

How we define and view what the Church is dictates greatly how we interact with it.  How many people need to be together to be a “church?”  Didn’t Jesus say “two or more?”  What program activities must transpire in order for it to be a “church?”  Have we become so protective of our extra-biblical models of doing church that we have forgotten to be the Church?  In other words,  when we want people to come to Christ, what do we want them to come to?  Much of the time conversion to Christianity is equated with a conversion to church attendance?  Is our goal to bring them in or go out to them and stay with, invest and intersect their lives?  Should our efforts be about centralizing large groups of people in a specific location or decentralize ourselves into our communities and into the rest of the world?  Isn’t the main point about being in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and not having the right doctrine?  While knowing the Scripture and studying theology is important however; maybe that’s why Jesus chooses to use people that I think have “wrong” theology? 

Do we really believe that if we pump people full of information, in a centralized location once a week, transformation will happen?  The reality is that life transformation isn’t happening to the level of expulsion of information.  Jesus showed us that lives shape lives much more than information.  Could it be that the “word became flesh” – and we are trying to convert him back to text?  It is time for us to stop going to “church” and to become the Church.  

2) Is making disciples about trying to complete goals or training to be a cultural and environmental architect?

Very rarely did Jesus discuss strategic plans or objectives with his disciples.  Jesus seems much more concerned about the feel and acceptance issues of the community.  For example the Sermon on the Mount seems to be much more focused on helping people change their focus and attitude through character development and thus, creating a healthy community.  In comparison to setting organizational and systematic goals that he was trying to propel people towards.  While every healthy organization must have vision and direction, this seems to be a secondary issue.  Without an environment where a team experiences loving, connective, intimate relationships then hiking to the top of the mountain can become empty and unsatisfying.

Could it be that God is looking for men and women youth leaders concerned with creating environments where God can have some intimate time with his students?  In other words youth leadership is about creating environments to engage human “beings” rather than human “doings.”  If we allow God to intercede independent of us to deeply impact a student’s perception of “being” the motivation of the “doing” will more naturally occur.  Being a disciple is about making sure that a life of loving God and loving others flows in and around our teams.  When it flows, motivation and momentum create velocity for the team and the individuals toward the summit.       

3) Is making disciples is about trying to create a place where students fellowship and are discipled or is it about creating a place where students can belong before they believe? 

It seems that many youth groups are more concerned with what students are not doing rather than what they are doing.  In other words the practical definition of holiness is defined in terms of sin management and separation rather than what they have committed to.  Could it be that the process of discipleship begins before and continues after what is commonly referred to as “evangelism?”  The goal seems to be more of helping people take an honest inventory of where they are and then encourage, equip and empower them to take the next step forward.  The intake of information does not necessarily equate into transformation.  The reality of our situation is that people want to sample something before they buy it. This makes the authenticity and environment of a youth ministry the utmost priority.  I have done hundred of surveys of visiting students over the years and ask them to describe their experience with us.  In short, the majority of students describe their experience in terms of how they felt during their visit and what they felt from others. 

This “who is in and who is out” mentality was exactly what Jesus constantly challenged the Pharisees with.  There are churches in our area where the youth pastor would be fired if he was caught smoking a cigar on the golf course.  However, his termination would be implemented by the Senior Pastor that is 70 pounds overweight.  Scripture is clear in regard to gluttony, but I’m still searching for the cigar reference.  Is it any wonder why so many “non-believers” feel distant, unable to connect, and unworthy to be a part of the community.  We need to invite students onto the same path that we are on.  Students are looking to see if we are fellow travelers, if our Christianity really “works” for us, and if we truly believe and experience that in which we are inviting them into.  Only this kind of authentic training will help us in our efforts to try to include and invite students into a community of believers. 

Genuine transformation is what creates an environment where students can come investigate and really see something happen in other student’s lives.  If all we do flows from who we are, then this must be our starting point as youth leaders.  Ultimately, we must remember that God is more concerned with custom imprinting our souls as youth leaders rather than building a youth ministry through us.  One size fits all discipleship = doesn’t fit anybody.  Maybe it is time to develop programs that embrace a more ergonomic spiritual formation approach.

My friend Tim has become a very successful bass missionary.  He is constantly learning and experimenting changing new approaches and I propose that the church Move from ministry mindset to missions mindset.  Missionaries study their culture and are willing to sacrifice anything and everything to move people closer in their relationship with Jesus.  MTV and Disney have already set the stage for our successful models.

As the church heads towards bankruptcy God is calling his us (his bride) back to radical obedience to his ancient command; “go and make disciples of all nations.”  Could it be that the United States has become like the “religious” people in Matthew 22 who are too busy doing the mundane, preoccupied with ineffective religious activity, and too committed to preserving antiquated and in-effective ways of fulfilling our purpose?